Health Care - Four Questions

Four Questions should dominate the Health reform debate and the answers to these questions simplify the decision making.

Q1. If you give something away does it increase the demand for it?

Answer: Of course.

Q2. Do we have enough Doctors, Nurses, Technicians, Hospitals and other facilities to take care of our current demand? (Before the "Public Option")

Answer: Apparently not.

There is abundant concern about shortages of everything. Let's take Nurses for example. According to the 2000-2020 projection of the Health Resources and Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services the United States will more than 800,000 more nurses than will be available in 2020 to meet demands. (It takes 2 to 6 years to train Nurses, depending on their skill level).

There are approximate 5,800 hospitals with approximately 950,000 beds currently. For the year 2020 the US Department of Health projects a need for 12,000 hospitals with 2,000,000 beds. The difference is to be answered by Short Term Hospitals or what is more commonly called HMO Facilities. 2020 = 7,690 Short Term Hospitals and 5,270 Long term Hospitals.
(Source, bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/reports/behindrnprojections/3.htm). As we move to "Free Health Services" is it not unlikely that Private HMOs will volunteer to provide services to Public Option Patients? The Public Option would necessarily have to compel Short Term, Privately Owned HMOs to serve the Public at reduced costs.

Has that ever worked? According the the Department of Health and Human Services 70% of Doctors will not accept Medicaid (It pays on 71% of what Health Insurance Companies Pay) and Medicare Patients are beginning to have nearly as much difficulty.

Who will have to build the medical infrastructure?

The AMA has reported that the US will need from 8,000 to 20,000 additional Doctors per year from 2016 (=8,000) to 2020 (=20,000) to keep up with the demands of an aging population.
It takes 10 years to make a Doctor so we needed to start the process in 2006.

Q3. If we aren't keeping up with projected demands how will a "Public Option" help?

Answer: It won't "help".

But it must and will set up an aparatus that can ration (just another word for "deny") health care services effectively.

Q4. What will solve the "Health Care Emergency"?

The President's recent Answer: Take "The Pill". Dead people don't require much follow-up.

Answer: The United States must shoulder the AMA aside (they set artificial limits on the Education of Doctors) invest immediately in sufficient education and construction to provide the necessary future Doctors, Nurses, Short-term and Long-term Hospitals.

Take that Capital Investment of $1.3 Trillion in tax-payer money and build an entirely new, efficient and up-to-date Medical Infrastructure. After all, getting the job done is "the American Way". The Health Care Industry is worth our investment and will pay adequate returns to all involved.

The "Public Option" can do little except replace and broaden the current ineffectual and overbudget Medicaid and Medicare programs, establish rationing and hand out "The Pill".